A social network perspective on peer relationship formation of medical undergraduates within large-scale learning communities

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Students’ formal networks, which are formed by a formal curriculum design, such as formally organized study groups within learning communities (LCs), may benefit students’ interactions and learning. It is unclear how large-scale LCs contribute to the formation of different informal peer relationships, which refers to student self-organized out-of-class relationships. Two mechanisms can explain relationship formation in LCs. Propinquity within formal networks and homophily of students’ characteristics (nationality, sex, academic performance) may promote students’ peer relationships. This study explores to what extent the formation of students’ informal networks was determined by their formal networks (LCs) while controlling for students’ characteristics and which mechanisms play an important role.

Methods

With online surveys, data were collected about five informal networks (help-seeking, collaboration, information sharing, friendship, and learn-from) from 69 first- and 51 second- bachelor year medical students (2890 relationships). Students were divided into four LCs in the formal curriculum. We compared students’ five informal network structures between first- and second-year students, domestic and international students, within and between formal networks. Besides, we used Quadratic Assignment Procedure (QAP) Regression Analysis in Ucinet to investigate the associations between students’ informal and formal networks (LCs) and students’ characteristics.

Results

Propinquity (in the same LC) plays a role since students have more informal connections within LCs than between LCs. Furthermore, it seems to play a greater role for second-year students than for first-year students. Homophily of nationality is important in informal networking since students are more likely to connect with others of similar nationalities.

Conclusion

Students become more connected within the LC when they remain in the same LC for a longer period. Formal networks enhance the students’ informal interactions within LCs but seem to restrict the interactions among students from other LCs. International students need support in order to integrate with domestic students in LCs.

KEYWORDS:

• Learning community
• informal peer network
• collaboration
• social network analysis
• undergraduate medical education

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all anonymous participants of the University Medical Center of Groningen for their participation.

Authors’ contribution

All the authors have made substantial contributions to the research: the research design, the data collection, the interpretation of the data, the manuscript writing, and have also substantively revised it. NB supervised data collection and YZ organized the data according to the planned analyses and carried them out, JB supervised especially the statistical analysis and interpretation. YZ wrote the manuscript. NB, JB and AD improved data interpretation and revised the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the submitted the manuscript.

Availability of data and materials

The dataset used and analyzed during this study is available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Ethics approval

The study was approved by the Ethical Review Board of the Netherlands Association of Medical Education (NVMO), dossier number 2019.4.9.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10872981.2022.2162253.

Additional information

Funding

YZ was supported by a grant of the Chinese Scholarship Council (No. 201609110118). The funding provided a fellowship to YZ to do her PhD study in the Netherlands. The CSC has no influence on the setup of the study or on the outcomes of the data. Research time of JB (the last author) is funded by VI.Veni.191S.010.